Faculty Bibliography

Hans Loewald's "On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis" is one of the most frequently cited and influential articles in psychoanalysis. The development of Loewald's paper is traced from early, unpublished drafts and presentations (c. 1956-1959) to its eventual publication in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 1960. Using archival material, the initial reception to Loewald's ideas is examined, showing the difficulty in grasping their novelty, originality, and clinical implications. Citation analysis is employed to demonstrate the article's growing influence and broad cross-over appeal to analysts of various orientations. The implications of this study as a way of examining originality and influence are discussed.

This paper introduces two related measures that can be used to evaluate, describe, and track changes in personality functioning. Both are derived from the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200). The first measure is the Personality Health Index (PHI) that offers an assessment of personality functioning that may be applied to the study of outcome in any treatment purporting to affect overall psychological health, such as long-term psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. Preliminary studies suggest robust construct validity for the PHI. The second measure, RADIO, uses the item content of the SWAP-200 to categorize personality functioning into five domains: Reality testing and thought process, Affect regulation and tolerance, Defensive organization, Identity integration, and Object relations. Referred to by the acronym RADIO, this measure provides a picture of personality health across major dimensions of personality functioning. Applying these measures to the well-studied case of "Mrs. C" illustrates their potential clinical, educational and research utility. Both the PHI, a global measure, and the RADIO, a more specific measure, demonstrate changes in her functioning from early to late periods in her psychoanalysis. The paper elaborates the wider application of the PHI and RADIO in clinical and research contexts.